About Me
Born and raised in Scranton, I was thrilled to open my practice in NEPA nearly a decade ago. I began seeing clients in Clarks Summit in 2017 and later moved my practice to Dunmore in summer 2024.
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Outside of work, I can usually be found spending time with my three young kids and my husband. Regrettably, I lack "impressive" hobbies to share with you -- I mostly spend my free time with family and friends, taking walks or planting flowers when the weather cooperates.
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Personally and professionally, I am passionate about the crucial role that social equity plays in the wellness of our community. I believe that everyone's mental health suffers when a society is divided, when neighbors feel unsafe with one another, or when any group's fundamental rights and dignity are denied.​
Education + Teaching
I graduated magna cum laude from Temple University's honors program and psychology honors program. I went on to earn a Master's degree and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Marywood University, an APA accredited program. I completed an APA-accredited internship and post-doctoral residency at Lehigh University's Counseling Center where my areas of focus were women's issues, eating disorders, international student relations, and college mental health.
I have taught undergraduate and graduate level courses at several universities, including courses on clinical supervision and psychotherapy skills. I have supervised doctoral students' therapy work at the practicum and internship level. In recent years, I have also provided lectures on current issues in the practice of psychology.
Training
Since opening my practice in 2017, I made it a priority to continue educating myself by regularly attending conferences and trainings and consulting monthly with other psychologists. Most recently, I completed extensive training and consultation with an expert supervisor to become certified in Family-Based Treatment for eating disorders in kids, teens and young adults. I am also trained in Exposure and Response Prevention (ExRP) for pediatric OCD by the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to opening my practice, I completed my doctoral internship and postdoctoral residency at Lehigh University's Counseling Center from 2015-2017. There, I provided assessment, individual therapy, and group therapy services to a diverse array of bright, motivated college students. My passion for feminism, social justice and women's lived experiences lead me to work with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the International Student Office, and to become the counseling center's liaison to the Women's Center on campus. At the Women's Center, I provided workshops and educational events on body image, eating disorders, feminism, sexual assault, and relationship health. Through that work, I received many referrals for eating disorder and sexual assault cases, which allowed me to deepen my expertise with these issues.
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While in my doctoral program, I worked in several other university counseling centers, community mental health centers, an inpatient psychiatric hospital, and an agency where I worked with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I get training yearly on topics that help me do my best work with my clients, including recent trainings on topics like Family Based Treatment (FBT) for eating disorders, Exposure & Response Prevention for OCD, and Internal Family Systems.
What my Practice Focuses On
Teens + Young Adults
I began working with college students very early on in my training. I often found myself wishing I had been there to support my clients during the rocky high school years I heard so much about in sessions. When I opened my practice, I knew I wanted to open my doors to teens so that they could enter college or the work force equipped with healthier communication, coping and relational skills. I hoped this might help them avoid some of the trauma and challenges I was seeing with my young adult clients.
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Adolescence and early adulthood are the periods of life when most of us begin to learn how to take care of ourselves, cope with stress, and create meaningful relationships. It can also be a stormy time in which some of those important lessons get interrupted by trauma, family issues, bullying, or even our own thoughts. I see it as an honor to walk alongside my young clients as they navigate the challenges of these phases of life. I strive to help them in coping through those challenges in the healthiest way they can.
Girls' + Women's Issues
Those who know me know that I am passionate about two things: Beyonce and women's issues. Throughout my journey as a psychologist, I am continually fascinated by the unique struggles that impact the mental health of women.
Are you wondering what kinds of struggles I am referring to? Here are some examples:
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Research suggests that girls' self-esteem begins to drop as early as age 8 as compared to boys' self esteem (and it never fully recovers in older years).
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In my practice, anecdotally I hear most women report their first negative, self-hateful body image thoughts developing around that same young age.
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Historically, a higher number of women have been diagnosed with eating disorders and depression as compared to men (though more men than ever are being diagnosed with EDs as of late).
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Hormonal fluctuations for women experiencing menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause vastly impact the daily functioning of half of our population- and yet it is rarely discussed in any helpful way with medical providers or in sex education classes.
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Some studies suggest that 1 in 7 new mothers (and 1 in 10 new dads) experience postpartum depression; anecdotally, EVERY new mother I speak with reports major shifts in their mindsets, relationships, work lives, and mental health within the first few years of parenthood. Yet, there are very little resources in our country to support mothers' mental health or work-life balance.
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We also know there is a significant wage gap between genders (where white women make 84 cents and women of color make 56 cents for every dollar a white man makes, according to Forbes) that impacts the independence, self-efficacy and upward mobility of women in our society.
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Women are rarely given the opportunity to explore the impact of issues like cultural pressures, gender norms, hormones, discrimination, and role transitions (e.g., becoming a wife, mother, caregiver to a parent, etc.) on our mental health throughout our lives. It is my goal as a psychologist to make space for these explorations with my clients and to help them navigate their lived experiences in the most empowered way possible.
